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1 | acd935ef | bellard | @example |
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2 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man begin SYNOPSIS |
3 | acd935ef | bellard | usage: qemu-img command [command options] |
4 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man end |
5 | acd935ef | bellard | @end example |
6 | acd935ef | bellard | |
7 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | @c man begin DESCRIPTION |
8 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | qemu-img allows you to create, convert and modify images offline. It can handle |
9 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | all image formats supported by QEMU. |
10 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | |
11 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | @b{Warning:} Never use qemu-img to modify images in use by a running virtual |
12 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | machine or any other process; this may destroy the image. Also, be aware that |
13 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | querying an image that is being modified by another process may encounter |
14 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | inconsistent state. |
15 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | @c man end |
16 | 48467328 | Kevin Wolf | |
17 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man begin OPTIONS |
18 | acd935ef | bellard | |
19 | acd935ef | bellard | The following commands are supported: |
20 | 153859be | Stuart Brady | |
21 | 153859be | Stuart Brady | @include qemu-img-cmds.texi |
22 | acd935ef | bellard | |
23 | acd935ef | bellard | Command parameters: |
24 | acd935ef | bellard | @table @var |
25 | acd935ef | bellard | @item filename |
26 | acd935ef | bellard | is a disk image filename |
27 | 5fafdf24 | ths | @item fmt |
28 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below |
29 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | for a description of the supported disk formats. |
30 | acd935ef | bellard | |
31 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | @item --backing-chain |
32 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer |
33 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | below for further description. |
34 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | |
35 | 5fafdf24 | ths | @item size |
36 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K} |
37 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | (kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M) |
38 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | and T (terabyte, 1024G) are supported. @code{b} is ignored. |
39 | acd935ef | bellard | |
40 | acd935ef | bellard | @item output_filename |
41 | 5fafdf24 | ths | is the destination disk image filename |
42 | acd935ef | bellard | |
43 | acd935ef | bellard | @item output_fmt |
44 | acd935ef | bellard | is the destination format |
45 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | @item options |
46 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | is a comma separated list of format specific options in a |
47 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported |
48 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details. |
49 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | |
50 | acd935ef | bellard | |
51 | acd935ef | bellard | @item -c |
52 | acd935ef | bellard | indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only) |
53 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item -h |
54 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats |
55 | aaf55b47 | Jes Sorensen | @item -p |
56 | aaf55b47 | Jes Sorensen | display progress bar (convert and rebase commands only) |
57 | f382d43a | Miroslav Rezanina | @item -q |
58 | f382d43a | Miroslav Rezanina | Quiet mode - do not print any output (except errors). There's no progress bar |
59 | f382d43a | Miroslav Rezanina | in case both @var{-q} and @var{-p} options are used. |
60 | a22f123c | Kevin Wolf | @item -S @var{size} |
61 | a22f123c | Kevin Wolf | indicates the consecutive number of bytes that must contain only zeros |
62 | a22f123c | Kevin Wolf | for qemu-img to create a sparse image during conversion. This value is rounded |
63 | a22f123c | Kevin Wolf | down to the nearest 512 bytes. You may use the common size suffixes like |
64 | a22f123c | Kevin Wolf | @code{k} for kilobytes. |
65 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | @item -t @var{cache} |
66 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | specifies the cache mode that should be used with the (destination) file. See |
67 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed |
68 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | values. |
69 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @end table |
70 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | |
71 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | Parameters to snapshot subcommand: |
72 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | |
73 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @table @option |
74 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | |
75 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item snapshot |
76 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | is the name of the snapshot to create, apply or delete |
77 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item -a |
78 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | applies a snapshot (revert disk to saved state) |
79 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item -c |
80 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | creates a snapshot |
81 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item -d |
82 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | deletes a snapshot |
83 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item -l |
84 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | lists all snapshots in the given image |
85 | acd935ef | bellard | @end table |
86 | acd935ef | bellard | |
87 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Parameters to compare subcommand: |
88 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
89 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @table @option |
90 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
91 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item -f |
92 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | First image format |
93 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item -F |
94 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Second image format |
95 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item -s |
96 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Strict mode - fail on on different image size or sector allocation |
97 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @end table |
98 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
99 | acd935ef | bellard | Command description: |
100 | acd935ef | bellard | |
101 | acd935ef | bellard | @table @option |
102 | 8599ea4c | Federico Simoncelli | @item check [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [-r [leaks | all]] @var{filename} |
103 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
104 | 8599ea4c | Federico Simoncelli | Perform a consistency check on the disk image @var{filename}. The command can |
105 | 8599ea4c | Federico Simoncelli | output in the format @var{ofmt} which is either @code{human} or @code{json}. |
106 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
107 | 4534ff54 | Kevin Wolf | If @code{-r} is specified, qemu-img tries to repair any inconsistencies found |
108 | 4534ff54 | Kevin Wolf | during the check. @code{-r leaks} repairs only cluster leaks, whereas |
109 | 4534ff54 | Kevin Wolf | @code{-r all} fixes all kinds of errors, with a higher risk of choosing the |
110 | 0546b8c2 | Stefan Weil | wrong fix or hiding corruption that has already occurred. |
111 | 4534ff54 | Kevin Wolf | |
112 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | Only the formats @code{qcow2}, @code{qed} and @code{vdi} support |
113 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | consistency checks. |
114 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
115 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | @item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}] |
116 | acd935ef | bellard | |
117 | acd935ef | bellard | Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format |
118 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | @var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options} |
119 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | that enable additional features of this format. |
120 | acd935ef | bellard | |
121 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | If the option @var{backing_file} is specified, then the image will record |
122 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | only the differences from @var{backing_file}. No size needs to be specified in |
123 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the |
124 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | @code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit). |
125 | acd935ef | bellard | |
126 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o}, |
127 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case. |
128 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | |
129 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | @item commit [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] @var{filename} |
130 | acd935ef | bellard | |
131 | acd935ef | bellard | Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image. |
132 | acd935ef | bellard | |
133 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2} |
134 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
135 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Check if two images have the same content. You can compare images with |
136 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | different format or settings. |
137 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
138 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | The format is probed unless you specify it by @var{-f} (used for |
139 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @var{filename1}) and/or @var{-F} (used for @var{filename2}) option. |
140 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
141 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | By default, images with different size are considered identical if the larger |
142 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | image contains only unallocated and/or zeroed sectors in the area after the end |
143 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | of the other image. In addition, if any sector is not allocated in one image |
144 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | and contains only zero bytes in the second one, it is evaluated as equal. You |
145 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | can use Strict mode by specifying the @var{-s} option. When compare runs in |
146 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Strict mode, it fails in case image size differs or a sector is allocated in |
147 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | one image and is not allocated in the second one. |
148 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
149 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | By default, compare prints out a result message. This message displays |
150 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | information that both images are same or the position of the first different |
151 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | byte. In addition, result message can report different image size in case |
152 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Strict mode is used. |
153 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
154 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Compare exits with @code{0} in case the images are equal and with @code{1} |
155 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | in case the images differ. Other exit codes mean an error occurred during |
156 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | execution and standard error output should contain an error message. |
157 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | The following table sumarizes all exit codes of the compare subcommand: |
158 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
159 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @table @option |
160 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
161 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item 0 |
162 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Images are identical |
163 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item 1 |
164 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Images differ |
165 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item 2 |
166 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Error on opening an image |
167 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item 3 |
168 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Error on checking a sector allocation |
169 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @item 4 |
170 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | Error on reading data |
171 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
172 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | @end table |
173 | d14ed18c | Miroslav Rezanina | |
174 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | @item convert [-c] [-p] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [-s @var{snapshot_name}] [-S @var{sparse_size}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename} |
175 | acd935ef | bellard | |
176 | 51ef6727 | edison | Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_name} to disk image @var{output_filename} |
177 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c} |
178 | eff44266 | Kevin Wolf | option) or use any format specific options like encryption (@code{-o} option). |
179 | acd935ef | bellard | |
180 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | Only the formats @code{qcow} and @code{qcow2} support compression. The |
181 | acd935ef | bellard | compression is read-only. It means that if a compressed sector is |
182 | acd935ef | bellard | rewritten, then it is rewritten as uncompressed data. |
183 | acd935ef | bellard | |
184 | acd935ef | bellard | Image conversion is also useful to get smaller image when using a |
185 | acd935ef | bellard | growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors |
186 | acd935ef | bellard | are detected and suppressed from the destination image. |
187 | acd935ef | bellard | |
188 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | You can use the @var{backing_file} option to force the output image to be |
189 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the |
190 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | @var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image, |
191 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | however the path, image format, etc may differ. |
192 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | |
193 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | @item info [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [--backing-chain] @var{filename} |
194 | acd935ef | bellard | |
195 | acd935ef | bellard | Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in |
196 | acd935ef | bellard | particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different |
197 | 19d36792 | bellard | from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image, |
198 | c054b3fd | Benoรฎt Canet | they are displayed too. The command can output in the format @var{ofmt} |
199 | c054b3fd | Benoรฎt Canet | which is either @code{human} or @code{json}. |
200 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | |
201 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | If a disk image has a backing file chain, information about each disk image in |
202 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | the chain can be recursively enumerated by using the option @code{--backing-chain}. |
203 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | |
204 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | For instance, if you have an image chain like: |
205 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | |
206 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | @example |
207 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | base.qcow2 <- snap1.qcow2 <- snap2.qcow2 |
208 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | @end example |
209 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | |
210 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | To enumerate information about each disk image in the above chain, starting from top to base, do: |
211 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | |
212 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | @example |
213 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | qemu-img info --backing-chain snap2.qcow2 |
214 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | @end example |
215 | e5357560 | Kashyap Chamarthy | |
216 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | @item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename} |
217 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | |
218 | d2c639d6 | blueswir1 | List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}. |
219 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | |
220 | 3763f26f | Kevin Wolf | @item rebase [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-p] [-u] -b @var{backing_file} [-F @var{backing_fmt}] @var{filename} |
221 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
222 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | Changes the backing file of an image. Only the formats @code{qcow2} and |
223 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | @code{qed} support changing the backing file. |
224 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
225 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | The backing file is changed to @var{backing_file} and (if the image format of |
226 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | @var{filename} supports this) the backing file format is changed to |
227 | a616673d | Alex Bligh | @var{backing_fmt}. If @var{backing_file} is specified as ``'' (the empty |
228 | a616673d | Alex Bligh | string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist |
229 | a616673d | Alex Bligh | independently of any backing file). |
230 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
231 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | There are two different modes in which @code{rebase} can operate: |
232 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | @table @option |
233 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | @item Safe mode |
234 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | This is the default mode and performs a real rebase operation. The new backing |
235 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | file may differ from the old one and qemu-img rebase will take care of keeping |
236 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | the guest-visible content of @var{filename} unchanged. |
237 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
238 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | In order to achieve this, any clusters that differ between @var{backing_file} |
239 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | and the old backing file of @var{filename} are merged into @var{filename} |
240 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | before actually changing the backing file. |
241 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
242 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | Note that the safe mode is an expensive operation, comparable to converting |
243 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | an image. It only works if the old backing file still exists. |
244 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
245 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | @item Unsafe mode |
246 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | qemu-img uses the unsafe mode if @code{-u} is specified. In this mode, only the |
247 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | backing file name and format of @var{filename} is changed without any checks |
248 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | on the file contents. The user must take care of specifying the correct new |
249 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | backing file, or the guest-visible content of the image will be corrupted. |
250 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
251 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | This mode is useful for renaming or moving the backing file to somewhere else. |
252 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | It can be used without an accessible old backing file, i.e. you can use it to |
253 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | fix an image whose backing file has already been moved/renamed. |
254 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | @end table |
255 | e6184690 | Kevin Wolf | |
256 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | You can use @code{rebase} to perform a ``diff'' operation on two |
257 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | disk images. This can be useful when you have copied or cloned |
258 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | a guest, and you want to get back to a thin image on top of a |
259 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | template or base image. |
260 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | |
261 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | Say that @code{base.img} has been cloned as @code{modified.img} by |
262 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | copying it, and that the @code{modified.img} guest has run so there |
263 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | are now some changes compared to @code{base.img}. To construct a thin |
264 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | image called @code{diff.qcow2} that contains just the differences, do: |
265 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | |
266 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | @example |
267 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b modified.img diff.qcow2 |
268 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | qemu-img rebase -b base.img diff.qcow2 |
269 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | @end example |
270 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | |
271 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since |
272 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | @code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information. |
273 | 9fda6ab1 | Richard W.M. Jones | |
274 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | @item resize @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size} |
275 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | |
276 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}. |
277 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | |
278 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | Before using this command to shrink a disk image, you MUST use file system and |
279 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition |
280 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss! |
281 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | |
282 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and |
283 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the |
284 | ae6b0ed6 | Stefan Hajnoczi | device. |
285 | acd935ef | bellard | @end table |
286 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @c man end |
287 | acd935ef | bellard | |
288 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @ignore |
289 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @c man begin NOTES |
290 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | Supported image file formats: |
291 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | |
292 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | @table @option |
293 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | @item raw |
294 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | |
295 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | Raw disk image format (default). This format has the advantage of |
296 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | being simple and easily exportable to all other emulators. If your |
297 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | file system supports @emph{holes} (for example in ext2 or ext3 on |
298 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | Linux or NTFS on Windows), then only the written sectors will reserve |
299 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | space. Use @code{qemu-img info} to know the real size used by the |
300 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | image or @code{ls -ls} on Unix/Linux. |
301 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | |
302 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | @item qcow2 |
303 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | QEMU image format, the most versatile format. Use it to have smaller |
304 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | images (useful if your filesystem does not supports holes, for example |
305 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | on Windows), optional AES encryption, zlib based compression and |
306 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | support of multiple VM snapshots. |
307 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | |
308 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | Supported options: |
309 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | @table @code |
310 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @item compat |
311 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | Determines the qcow2 version to use. @code{compat=0.10} uses the traditional |
312 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | image format that can be read by any QEMU since 0.10 (this is the default). |
313 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @code{compat=1.1} enables image format extensions that only QEMU 1.1 and |
314 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | newer understand. Amongst others, this includes zero clusters, which allow |
315 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | efficient copy-on-read for sparse images. |
316 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | |
317 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | @item backing_file |
318 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand) |
319 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | @item backing_fmt |
320 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | Image format of the base image |
321 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | @item encryption |
322 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted. |
323 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
324 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | Encryption uses the AES format which is very secure (128 bit keys). Use |
325 | 8063d0fe | Kevin Wolf | a long password (16 characters) to get maximum protection. |
326 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
327 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | @item cluster_size |
328 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | Changes the qcow2 cluster size (must be between 512 and 2M). Smaller cluster |
329 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | sizes can improve the image file size whereas larger cluster sizes generally |
330 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | provide better performance. |
331 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
332 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | @item preallocation |
333 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | Preallocation mode (allowed values: off, metadata). An image with preallocated |
334 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs |
335 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | to grow. |
336 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
337 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @item lazy_refcounts |
338 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | If this option is set to @code{on}, reference count updates are postponed with |
339 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | the goal of avoiding metadata I/O and improving performance. This is |
340 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | particularly interesting with @option{cache=writethrough} which doesn't batch |
341 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | metadata updates. The tradeoff is that after a host crash, the reference count |
342 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | tables must be rebuilt, i.e. on the next open an (automatic) @code{qemu-img |
343 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | check -r all} is required, which may take some time. |
344 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
345 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | This option can only be enabled if @code{compat=1.1} is specified. |
346 | f085800e | Stefan Hajnoczi | |
347 | f085800e | Stefan Hajnoczi | @end table |
348 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
349 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | @item Other |
350 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | QEMU also supports various other image file formats for compatibility with |
351 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | older QEMU versions or other hypervisors, including VMDK, VDI, VHD (vpc), qcow1 |
352 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | and QED. For a full list of supported formats see @code{qemu-img --help}. |
353 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | For a more detailed description of these formats, see the QEMU Emulation User |
354 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | Documentation. |
355 | 3e032364 | Kevin Wolf | |
356 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | The main purpose of the block drivers for these formats is image conversion. |
357 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | For running VMs, it is recommended to convert the disk images to either raw or |
358 | d3067b02 | Kevin Wolf | qcow2 in order to achieve good performance. |
359 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | @end table |
360 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | |
361 | f932c040 | Kevin Wolf | |
362 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man end |
363 | acd935ef | bellard | |
364 | acd935ef | bellard | @setfilename qemu-img |
365 | acd935ef | bellard | @settitle QEMU disk image utility |
366 | acd935ef | bellard | |
367 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man begin SEEALSO |
368 | acd935ef | bellard | The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux |
369 | acd935ef | bellard | user mode emulator invocation. |
370 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man end |
371 | acd935ef | bellard | |
372 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man begin AUTHOR |
373 | acd935ef | bellard | Fabrice Bellard |
374 | acd935ef | bellard | @c man end |
375 | acd935ef | bellard | |
376 | acd935ef | bellard | @end ignore |